Burn Like An Angel (Harrowdean Manor #2)

10. Ripley

CHAPTER 10

RIPLEY

OUT OF STYLE – KID brUNSWICK we don’t have time to find another solution.

Xander’s subsequent choice of curse words raises even Lennox’s eyebrows. Resolving himself to this decision, the iceman goes first, peering up at the individual chain-links and looming spikes.

“Wait!” I quickly pull off my green parka to hand over. “Tie this around your waist. You can cover the spikes.”

He accepts the thick coat, quickly looping it around himself. Xander hoists the backpack higher on his shoulder then begins to deftly hoist himself up, link by link, causing the fence to groan.

At the top, he drops the backpack over the other side. It lands with a hollow thunk. Xander braces himself in place to spread the parka over the spikes, offering some minor protection.

“Alright,” he calls down. “Nox.”

Stepping up, Lennox follows his lead. It’s a torturously slow process, heaving himself up each inch with his bad hand curled into his chest. I internally panic each time he falters, almost losing his grip.

Halfway up, Xander stretches out a hand, intending to grab him. Lennox tentatively raises his injured limb, allowing Xander to snag his wrist above the bandage and pull.

“What’s happening?” Raine asks anxiously.

“Xander has him. They’re almost over.”

The pair tackle the top together, Xander guiding Lennox over the spiked barbed wire, now hidden beneath feather-filled fabric. Lennox grunts when a sharp tip pierces through the coat and catches his inner leg.

“A few steps down then jump,” Xander advises from his perch. “I’ve got Raine.”

Knowing that’s my cue, I nudge Raine forward. “You’re up.”

He folds his guide stick then tucks it into his waistband, taking small steps forward. I help him hook his fingers into the criss-crossed metal and locate his first foothold.

“Go slow. Xander will grab you, alright?”

“Sure,” Raine chirps. “Fucking brilliant.”

“I’ll catch you if you fall.”

“I’d crush you, guava girl.”

“I’d let you do that too.”

With a tiny, forced smile, he starts to move. The process of feeling out each slot to nudge his foot into is painstaking. Raine has to blindly locate each metal link all while finding where to put his hands.

“Higher,” I call to him. “Left foot.”

“Almost there,” Xander adds, still teetering up high.

When Raine’s foot slips and he begins to fall, the scream trapped in my chest surges to the forefront. My vision narrows to the sight of him plummeting.

“Not so fast!”

Grabbing a covered spike for better balance, Xander swoops his top half low to reach Raine. I watch his mouth contort in an agonised grimace. He just manages to grab the scruff of Raine’s t-shirt to steady him.

“Raine!” Lennox bellows.

He dangles for a horrifying split-second until his feet miraculously find a hold. Raine flattens himself against the security fence, gulping down air.

“Move,” Xander shouts in a strained voice. “Now!”

I can see blood pouring from Xander’s palm from here, the bright-red spill trailing down his forearm and elbow in swirling ribbons. He’s clutching a spike to stop Raine from falling.

Lennox’s face drains of colour as he watches in clear horror, unable to intervene. We can only stand and fret as Raine resumes climbing, step by treacherous step.

“Are you bleeding?” I hear him exclaim.

“Climb over, dammit.”

“I can smell your blood, Xan!”

“Just hurry!”

At the top, Xander braces Raine to allow him to hook a leg over the barbed wire. My throat closes up as I watch both of them teetering, narrowly avoiding any further cuts or injuries.

My attention is dragged away from them by the sound of raised voices, leaking from the woodland directly behind me. It sounds a lot like orders being screamed.

“Incoming!” I cry out. “Get down, now!”

Encouraging Raine to drop down the other side, Xander watches him descend then drop to the grass beside Lennox. He barely spares his bleeding hand a second glance as he starts to descend after Raine.

“Ripley!” he thunders.

“I’m coming!”

I secure my backpack tight, already climbing up the same route the others took. The fence flexes and bends beneath my weight, the metal protesting at the violation. This is harder than it looks.

My fingers ache, pain slicing into my joints from the pressure caused by gripping such thin, inflexible metal. It’s slick too, making me slip several times, barely clinging on for dear life.

“Faster, Rip,” Xander calls from the bottom. “I see movement.”

“I’m coming! Go take cover!”

“Take Raine and run!” Lennox shouts at him. “I’ve got her.”

“No,” Xander roars back.

“Go! You need more time to guide him!”

Xander reluctantly grabs hold of Raine and makes a beeline for the woodland that surrounds the institute. Raine tries to fight against him, shouting my name, but fails to break free.

Reaching the top in record time, I swing my legs over the barbed wire then toss the torn parka down to Lennox. He catches it, checking to verify that Xander and Raine have made it to safety.

“Go!” I scream down to him.

“Not without you! Shift your ass!”

I quickly drop the backpack to free up my movements. Just a few more steps down and I can jump the rest. Preparing to move, my blood freezes into a solid mass in my veins when a voice calls out.

“Ripley Bennet!”

Teetering, I almost lose balance at the sound of the familiar sneer. I find my next footing, risking a look over the other side of the fence. Four men have broken free from the forest.

Elon’s smarmy grin hasn’t changed. It still sits proudly on his face beneath gunmetal eyes that hold no mercy and his stern, military-cut hair. The sick fuck’s even freshly shaven for the occasion.

He cups his hands around his mouth. “Long time no see, inmate!”

The three men with him are all dressed like something out of a prison escape movie. Thick, padded black clothing and stab proof vests. Holsters loaded with weapons—batons, tasers and guns. They came prepared.

“You look awfully uncomfortable up there,” he jeers. “Fancy hopping down to have a little chat with me and my friends?”

My grip on the chain-links tightens. “Alternatively you could go join your other friend, Harrison, in the Z wing. I heard he’s floating in a tub down there!”

The smirk wipes clean from his face. Elon clenches his stubbled jaw, a hand resting on the gun slotted into his holster.

“Fun’s over, Ripley. I have one job today and not a whole lot of time to do it. You’re on my list of loose ends to clean up.”

Below me, I can see Lennox still lingering. He should’ve run to safety and joined the others. Instead, he looks up at me imploringly, his hands spread wide in a clear message. I watch his lips move.

Jump.

The metallic click of a gun causes my head to snap back up. Elon has released his weapon and holds it aimed at me. His lascivious smile makes his intentions crystal clear.

“I’m under no obligation to bring you back alive,” he gloats. “Though I’m sure the boss will be disappointed that he won’t get the chance to deal with you himself.”

Looking back and forth, my options are shitty. Fall and pray that Lennox catches me. Stay and get shot. Surrender to Elon and his sycophants. Karma is truly kicking me in the ass with these choices.

“Come on, Rip,” Elon cajoles. “You know we will always find you, no matter where you run.”

“Good luck with that, asshole!”

“You’re a part of this. The world wants your head too.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Lennox clamours.

It’s too late to stop the seed of doubt from blooming. We may be jumping from the frying pan into the flames. The outside world holds no more safety than Harrowdean’s crumbling ruins.

I’m their enemy too. Society will never understand the horrors we’ve endured. We don’t fit into their cookie-cutter reality. Staying here to scream our innocence until we’re quietly killed isn’t happening, though.

“You’re right!” I reposition myself, legs spread apart and shoulders squared. “I’ll be labelled as a monster when the truth comes out. The world will burn me right alongside the corporation.”

My grip on the chain-links loosens.

“But the least I can do is destroy the evil I’ve enabled before that day comes. I can atone.”

Trees, clouds and four shocked faces become a fast-moving blur. I’m airborne. Free-falling. The ground rushes up to meet me, approaching in rapid flash frames.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The feel of a bullet whooshing past me registers in drunken slow motion. Rushing air. Loud popping. Something else sails past me. But the third and final bullet doesn’t miss.

I don’t process the fierce bite of being shot at first. Not until the burning sensation becomes a deep, excruciating laser beam carving into my flesh.

The thin air doesn’t cushion my fall.

Something else does.

Our bodies audibly smack together. Faintly, I hear someone bellow loudly in pain as we both crumple. I should feel the impact more, but all that exists is the radiating agony in my inflamed thigh.

More vision-blurring pain slams into me as I’m jostled in a pair of thick arms, the muscular cushion beneath me attempting to shift. Crackling bonfires and woodsy smoke filter into my nostrils.

Lennox.

“Fuck,” he wheezes. “That hurt.”

Yelling voices feed back in. We need to move, but for the life of me, I can’t lift a single limb. Not with my body succumbing to weakness. I’m barely able to hold my eyelids open as adrenaline pours out of me.

“Xan! Help us!”

Reality keeps flashing in and out. Lennox’s body trapped beneath me shakes, attempting to wrestle his way up with the new bruises I’ve given him. When the world reappears, I feel myself being lifted.

“Give her to me.”

“No.” Lennox’s tone is strained. “I’m carrying her.”

“Nox—”

“Let’s move!”

More darkness. An inky pond pulling me into its all-consuming depths. Light eventually filters back in, and this time, I can tell we’re running fast.

Wind whipping and voices bellowing. More bullets. Distant shouts. Crunching footsteps. Birch trees reappear all around us.

I’m cradled safely into a firm chest.

Broad. Warm. Adorned with military dog tags.

I’m… safe.

“Hold on, Rip,” Lennox whispers raggedly. “I’ve got you.”